


truth hurts

by yallbitter



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambassador Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Coming Out, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gay Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25570714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yallbitter/pseuds/yallbitter
Summary: Getting married is all well and good, but if nobody knows that you're together, it can put a bit of a dampener on the festivities. Our favourite boys have to tell their friends, family, and finally the world that a wedding is on it's way. What could go wrong?
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 546





	truth hurts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lokiwinners](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokiwinners/gifts).



> This one goes out to lokiwinners, who bookmarks and likes and reads practically everything I put up here. You know who you are, and thank you for always making my day <3

“That’s it. We HAVE to do something about this. I’m so sick of them dancing around each other all the time!”

Katara was talking to Aang in their shared palace bedroom, completely unaware that the very people they were talking about were right outside their doors.

“We have to do something, ANYTHING to get them together, Aang it’s driving me INSANE! Surely even Sokka can see how Zuko feels about him? And they’re constantly making excuses to touch each other. Sokka has always been terrible at keeping secrets, anyway.”

Sokka looks at the man standing next to him and grins.

“Bad at keeping secrets?” he mouths, indignant. “Managed to keep this secret perfectly well!”

Zuko rolls his eyes and drags Sokka away.

“Evidently we haven’t been as subtle as we thought. Perhaps it is time to tell them, after all.”

Sokka was shocked. He never thought Zuko would be the one to suggest that. Overturning the laws against same-sex relationships in the Fire Nation had been one of Zuko’s first, and, in the eyes of some advisors, most controversial decisions, and yet Zuko was still a little nervous to announce his feelings to the world. That was fine by Sokka. He knew that things weren’t the same everywhere, and even though his father and Bato had married not long after the war, he’d still found it scary to tell them that he liked men and women. And that was only his family, who he practically already knew for certain would be ok with it. 

He couldn’t even imagine telling so many people at once. So he was happy to stay on the down-low, to be Firelord Zuko’s Close Personal Friend, and nothing more. 

But he couldn’t deny that the thought of being able to show the world his devotion made his heart flutter. He put a hand on the slightly taller man’s cheek, tracing the edge of the scar.

“If you want to, Zuko, you know I’ll be here, no matter what you decide to do. I love you, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Zuko said softly. “You tell me all the time. I don’t deserve you; you know.”

Sokka raises an eyebrow. Not this bullshit again. 

“Zuko, you deserve love, and Tui and La, I’m going to give it to you, no matter what you say about it!” 

Zuko smiles at him and leans into a kiss, soft, slow and full of all the words that neither of them can say.

“Will you marry me?” He says it suddenly, while they lie in bed together. He’s half asleep, and for some reason the grand, fancy proposal he’d had planned just didn’t sound right. Maybe it was the wrong time. Zuko frets and gets more and more anxious with every second of silence from his beloved. Sokka flips around to face him, leaning on his elbow.

Zuko is heartened by the wide, bright smile on his face.

“I’d love to. And I love you.” He punctuates the sentence with a kiss that sets Zuko’s heart racing in the way only he can.

“But you still haven’t told anyone about us.” Ever the practical one, Sokka finds the problem in his question.

“I will. Soon.” Says Zuko, determination on his regal face. He was still afraid, but his love for the incredible man in front of him overwhelms him and gives him the courage he needs. He wants to spend the rest of his life with this man, and he’ll be damned if he’s stopped by his own fear.

Telling Iroh was the first step. He arranged a meeting in his private room, a game of pai sho, and hot ginseng tea, his Uncles favourite. He’d never admit it, but Zuko paced back and forth waiting for the only man he would ever call his father. Sokka wasn’t here. Zuko wanted to do this alone, so he was off practising in the sparring yard.

There was a creak as the door opened and his Uncle walked in, his usual happy smile on his face.

“Uncle!” Zuko ran to the older man and wrapped him in a hug. It had been too long since he’d last seen him.

“Hello nephew! I have missed you. You ought to come by the shop sometime, and take back your serving job!” Hearty laughter filled the room, and Zuko ushered his Uncle over to the Pai Sho table and sat down across from him. Pouring cups of tea for them both he tried to swallow his nerves.

“I- I have something important to tell you, Uncle.” He was terrified, his heart pounding, and for a second he considered just giving up entirely, but then he saw Sokka’s face when he’d said that he was going to tell the world. He took a deep breath and steeled himself.

“I’m engaged.”

Astonishment and excitement filled the old man’s eyes, and his wide smile spread even wider.

“Zuko, that is wonderful news! Who is the lucky lady? And why didn’t you bring her to meet me, huh?”

“I did.” 

“What? When? Why didn’t you tell-“

“It’s Sokka.” Best to be out with it, he thinks, like ripping off a bandage.

Silence.

Zuko stayed still, looking at the ground, mentally preparing himself for the outburst of anger and hatred he was expecting. He heard his Uncle stand, and walk around to him. He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but instead of pain, he finds himself pressed against his shoulder in a warm hug.

“I’m glad that you told me this, Zuko. It cannot have been easy. But you deserve to be happy, and I can’t think of a better man for you to spend your life with. You know I will love you like a son, no matter what. Now, come, drink with me. And tell me all about your wedding plans!”

Zuko broke down, sobbing into his Uncles shoulder as he rubs his back. He had been so ready for rejection, for pain and fear and fire, that to be loved and welcomed by the man he considers his father melted that last block of frozen fear sitting in his chest. He pulls back, tears streaming down his face and nods.

“Shall we play?” Iroh asks, and Zuko smiles at him, ready to face his fears.

“I’m marrying Zuko.”

Sokka blurts it out over dinner with his family. It was a little less planned than he would have wanted, but it certainly gets a reaction. Katara drops her spoon into the sea prune stew, and Hakoda chokes on his water.

“How can you be marrying him?” Asks Aang, “You aren’t even dating!”

“About that….” Sokka rubs the back of his neck and Katara’s eyes widen.

“For how long?” She demands, and Sokka tells her the truth. They got together, he says, about a year after Zuko’s coronation. He explained that they hadn’t said anything yet out of fear for public backlash against Zuko, but they both felt ready to tell the truth. Katara and Aang rolled their eyes.

“And to think, we’ve been planning to set you up for months, the whole time you did it yourselves!” Aang was grinning ear to ear, his happiness infectious, as always.  
“I don’t envy you having to tell Toph. She’ll be furious that you didn’t say anything.” Sokka grins sheepishly again.

“She KNOWS?!”

“I’m happy for you, son.” Says Hakoda with a smile, speaking up before Katara can launch herself at Sokka over the table. Bato also grins. 

“If you’re anything like your father, you’re going to be a wonderful husband…. And an even better lover.” 

Hakoda wacks his husband with a spoon, playfully, and they continue their meal, discussing ceremony plans and the best times for fishing in the nearby bay.

Telling his advisors that he’s marrying the Southern Water Tribe ambassador was going to be a nightmare. He wanted Sokka here for this one, but he’s off at the Northern Air Temple working on a mystery project that will, supposedly, ‘change travel forever’. Zuko couldn’t wait to see it, but for now he stands at the head of a long table, staring down a number of old men and women, waiting on him to make his big announcement. 

Iroh sits at the other end of the table, and gives his nephew a discreet thumbs up.

“I am engaged to, and marrying Sokka, the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador.” There’s a moment of silence as his words sink in, and then the table erupts in shouts and questions.

He lets them rage for a bit, and then he hears one particularly stale old man say ‘It’s not the Fire Nation way!’

Something in Zuko snaps, and he fires a blast of flame into the air.

“ENOUGH!” He roars. “I AM THE FIRELORD, AND I SAY THAT IT IS THE FIRE NATION WAY! I AM MARRYING SOKKA, AND IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT, I WOULD RECOMMEND FINDING A NEW WORKPLACE.” He’s calmed down a bit now. “As a matter of fact, I believe that my Uncle has some spots open as tea servers in the Jasmine Dragon. Good day, ladies and gentlemen.”

Zuko strides out of the room, long robes billowing and smoke rolling off his shoulders.  
As soon as he gets to his rooms he breaks down. He falls against the bed and sobs, tears pouring down his face. The candles around the room flicker with every breath, and his chest aches. He misses Sokka. He wants him to hold him and tell him that it’s going to be ok, but he isn’t here, so Zuko settles for his pillow. As he hugs the soft cushion to his chest, he knows that he just needs to announce it to the nation. He really would need Sokka for this one.

Eventually, the Firelord falls asleep, his face buried in the pillow, inhaling his lovers smell.

They stand together on the balcony of the palace, overlooking the gathered population of Caldera. The people stand beneath them, whispering to themselves about what could be happening. Behind them stand their families, and above them, all the people they have lost over the years, watching and protecting them.

Zuko and Sokka take a step forward, clasping hands, and rather than speak, they pull each other into the first kiss shared outside themselves. It is soft, and gentle, and loving, and so perfect that both men feel that they could stay like this forever. Then, Zuko pulls back and places in Sokka’s hair the headpiece of the Lord Consort. Sokka puts a Water Tribe betrothal necklace, carved with Fire Nation symbols around Zuko’s neck, and the crowd explodes in cheers.

Looking out over the sea of smiling faces, Sokka and Zuko look at each other, and for the first time, they both feel completely ready to face anything that could come their way.


End file.
